The Song of Spring
by MateriaFlower1-1
Summary: Noel/Yeul Prompt Series! .They say that Spring represents rebirth. All season long, there's a certain song in the air, a melody that sings all spring long. It sings of hope, and romance and promises freshly made. It's a hopeful song, and it buzzes with energy, like a chick breaking out of its shell or the blades of grass breathing their first under the frost.
1. 060 Spring

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XIII-2_**

 _Hello! This is the first in my quick little series of one-shots that I've got here. These three are pretty similar in effect, but gosh-damn it I just wanted to write about this adorable pairing! So here we are. And maybe, you're already familiar with my work/recognise who I am. I don't know, but I suppose that if you're at all active in the Final Fantasy fanbase - from IV-XIII almost in its entirety - then you might do! Welcome back, and oh I'm so flattered you remembered me!_

 _Well anyway, I'll be posting every week on this very day (whatever day it is to you - I've recently relocated, and my timezones are completely all over the place! I'll have a note on my profile for the intended day, and you can check there if you're so inclined.) for three weeks. I'm happy that you decided to join me today and I hope that you'll stick with me for the rest._

 _Enjoy!_

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 _060\. Spring_

In spring, the daisies bloom. They push up from the ground, bulging green stem ready to burst. And then the flower springs forth; a yellow sun for the centre, and fine, white petals leaning back from the centre tipped with magenta.

They say that Spring represents rebirth. That the flowers blooms and the animals that are born symbolise the resurrection of the yearly cycle.

It was the spring after the world went back to normal. Snow and Serah had just married, on the brink of summer. Happily gazing into each other's eyes, they held hands and became tied in this life and whatever comes afterwards on the beaches that recreated their hometown, two worlds ago, on Cocoon. It was quiet, with not many left alive who knew them. Well, people who knew them outside of the stories. There was nothing stronger in the air that day than relief - that finally, after everything, they were married.

And yet I could not help but feel slightly jealous at their joy; bitter that mine was stolen from me.

Yeul was still gone. Vanille came back, Fang came back, Lightning reappeared. And yet Yeul did not. Hope said that she wasn't dead; that she would still be alive, somewhere, as the newest incarnation of herself. I'm starting to believe that he lied.

Summer passed in a blur. Hope and Vanille married, I began to work in Academia, and the world span on. Nothing changed; time passed. Life went on. I started to think that maybe I was deluding myself. Every time I saw a flash of blue hair it was dyed, or the wrong shade. Every time I thought I heard her voice, it turned out to be the wind whispering through the brilliant green leaves. She was gone, they told me. It was time to move on.

There would never be a time to move on. I encountered countless versions of Yeul, watched countless versions of her die. I felt her die in my arms. And yet throughout the broad spans of time, there was one thing that connected us, entwined us through the tangles string of time. She saw the love that she would have for me. I cherished the love I had for her.

And so Autumn came on, and I cared about it as much as I cared when yet another leaf fell from a tree.

I sat again in the park. It lay in the centre of Academia, the new Academia, and at this point in the morning, there were few people here. Trees circles around the field, and wherever else they wished, all bright red and orange and yellow at this time of the year. Piles of the browned, fallen leaves scattered around the mud-laden grass, and the dust paths were kicked up under the stress of thousands of walkers.

A stack of papers made a quiet companion beside me. Not too interesting, but ever since time was repaired - at least, somewhat righted - there had been lingering incidents. A monster from before the fall here, a stray person, or extinct species there. Once a portal opened up on the other side of the planet. And, being the seasoned time traveller that I was - and the only one unoccupied by family, or other work, I was sent to deal with the issue. It was lonely work, but I treasured the time alone, away from humanity in the wilderness. There, I could delude myself into thinking that she was still alive. Waiting for me to return.

A rustle of leaves shocked me back into reality. The leaves were still red and falling, swirling down. The air was still crisp and autumnal. And she was still not with me.

"Noel..." I heard my name echo on the wind; like a presence was behind me. I didn't turn. I didn't want to splinter the shards of my slowly healing heart.

"Noel, is it you?" The voice called me again, louder. I stiffened. I heard rustling, and the sound of something dropping. With my quick reflexes still intact, I turned around.

A daisy lay on the pile of leaves behind the bench. A daisy - fleshy green stem, flower head and big as my palm - just like one of her used to love, and sometimes carried.

A swish of blue hair, just right, and the smell of flowers. Home. Yeul.

"Yeul!" I called out to the girl and caught her hand. "Yeul."

She turned and faced me. It was her - no doubt. The same delicate features with a solemn touch of sadness. The knowledge of all life, all death in her grey eyes. And yet there was something slightly different. Her clothes were less ragged, and her hair was shorter. And she no longer wore a headdress, but a band of small daisies across her hair.

She caught me looking at it. "Vanille suggested I change it. She told me to find you here."

She met my eyes shyly. No, she was not the same Yeul, but she was still mine.

"I know you, Noel. I know how my past incarnation felt."

She placed a hand on my face.

"It is time for us to start anew. I may be able to see the past and all of my past lives, but I cannot see the terrible future any longer. The timeline will not change - not for a very long time. I will be safe here; I won't have any visions."

"You won't leave me?"

"Not unless the goddess wills otherwise."

It was not certain. Nothing was ever definite with Yeul. Expect that, as the warmth of her palm crept into my skin, the warmth crept back into my heart too.

They may say that Spring is the season of rebirth, but that Autumn, amid the fallen leaves and red covered sky, my heart was reborn.

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	2. 050 Flowers

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XIII-2_**

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 _050\. Flower_

 _Red Daisies_

She loved daisies. She liked to feel the waxy white petals edged with just a dash of pink between her fingers, and she liked to run the tips of her fingers over the pollen-laden yellow centre. She liked to pick the smaller daisies and make them into crowns or brackets and carry the larger daisies with her. In one life, she licked to so that.

In other lives, she liked to read books or write books or stay silent or speak loudly it swim or run... She'd had so many lives, and was once so many people. I often wonder if she's ever loved another in a past life. If she still loves another from a past life. Or if I'm just lucky.

But in all of her lives, I know that she loved flowers. Caius told me stories of her love of flowers before he turned on us, and I listened eagerly. She smiled bashfully and fiddled with whatever blossom she had in her hands, ever so cautiously. I always used to see her sitting on the outskirts of the village, Caius not far behind, looking out over the dying field, and speck of colour that could indicate a flower making her smile.

She loved it when I brought her flowers for her birthday. I would find all the flowers I could and, before my grandma died, she'd help me arrange them. But after a few years, I had to do it myself. It was a bit of a mess, but she always smiled so widely, and wouldn't stop beaming for days. I was so happy that I could make her smile like that. But when I brought her daisies, on the lucky occasion I could find enough, and she'd almost cry with joy. No one could make her so that, not even Caius. I was proud, and I was happy. She was happy. I couldn't have asked for more.

But those days became less and less frequent when she'd smile. Her eyes faded until they were glassy and flat as Caius became less and less the teacher that had become my father, and more the man who was a distant shadow. Until he wasn't even a shadow anymore. She clung to me when he left, and she cried for days. Despite myself, I couldn't help but feel jealous. So I found her all the daisies I could. They didn't make her smile as widely as they once did, but she was satiated.

That was only for a time. I awoke that day, feeling that something was wrong. Yeul, who slept beside me, was too still and breathing too fast. I shot up immediately, and by the look in her eyes, I knew what was going to happen. She begged me to take her to then Oracle, and I hated that I gave in to her. I walked solemnly, keeping her by my chest. I was right. She did die. With a smile on her face as she saw our future, a future together that I would've given anything for, and drew her breath for the final time, her body going limp in my arms. I cried, and she had died surrounded by other flowers; ironic flowers - Love Lies Dying.

I collected whatever flowers I could and put them near her body, thinking they were all daisies before leaving, and never turning back. I was inconsolable in my grief, even if anyone had been there to console me. I walked for miles, for days and weeks, but I never came across anything. I don't know what happened, but it turned out to be a new beginning for me.

I still put flowers of her grave, in the new world, every week. I find daisies, the flowers that made her eyes light up, and put them on the cold marble slab that marks her name and details her cursed eyes of Etro. I never know quite what to feel when looking at the slab, it's short and tells nothing of the beautiful person she was. But the daisies... For me, they say it all. Each petal was a life of hers, and without each life, she would not be complete.

I picked a daisy the very next spring. It was bright and white and touched by pink. The stem was thick and green and full of life. I held it tenderly in my hands; oh how it reminded me of her. Each petal beautiful, sweet, and far too short.

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 _Yeah. I know._

 _Please review if you've got time and follow for more._ _Thanks!_


	3. 039 Contagious

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XIII-2_**

Hi! I'm back again~

 _I do this so often I'm honestly out of things to say. Updating 5 days a week is not good for the small talk..._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 _039\. Contagious_

It felt like completion, being back in his arms. Like all her past and future selves had come together, just in that moment, and her soul felt at one.

"You're back?"

His voice was unsteady, questioning, but overwhelmingly hopeful.

She nodded, with a tentative smile. He held her at an arm's length and took her in, as though his eyes were hungrily devouring her image, in case this was so terrible dream or a cruel trick of reality. But he couldn't stop the smile that overtook his face, nor the tears that slowly prickled his eyes and gathered at the rim.

"I don't believe it."

"Well, you should. I'm here."

He pulled her into his arms again. He was much stronger than he had been, and she looked different than she used to. But there would be time for that later.

"And you'll stay?"

She nodded her head and hummed. She would be staying.

The park around them seemed to come drifting back into reality.

The leaves flew, brittle, in the wind, and the sound of people walking here and there, and animals dashing about and the birds flying in the cool air suddenly came back into reality.

"Where is this world?"

Noel released her, frowning. "This is our new world. This is Bhunevelze."

Yeul looked around, blinking hard. "But- but—"

"I know." He sighed. "It's a lot to take in. But our world has gone, and so's Cocoon."

She just continued to look around, staring at this new place. The very earth beneath her feet felt foreign, and the trees didn't whisper on the wind in the same way they used to.

"I'll take you to see Hope, come on." He stretched out a hand to her. She took it, questioningly.

"Hope?"

"Oh." He smacked his free hand to his forehead. "He's my friend. He created this world."

He said it so nonchalantly it made her start. "He's... a god?"

Noel chuckled and shook his head. And he pulled her off into a world she couldn't connect with, and didn't understand like the last one. She felt all the souls of her various lives compressing down on her, and not because she was complete with Noel.

She knew that time was not on her side. She would live a happy year, or perhaps two, and then fade as she always did. But she would not come back this time.

An unhappy weight pressed down on her broken soul as she lived with Noel, met his friends, saw this new, strange world. Perhaps it was the finality of this life that made her feel so, but this world was not for her. She could tell, by the way she felt the mechanics whirring under her feet, and the silence in place of the usual, murmuring souls she felt whizzing around her. It pained her to see Noel so happy as they built this new life, and it being one that she knew she wouldn't live in for much longer.

The days rolled into weeks, then months, and then a year or so passed. Every day she could feel the weight inside her grow stronger. She was tired, helpless, and suffering. The soul inside her felt back broken, tired in its defiant attempts to stand upright and stay in this world.

Her days were numbered.

She caught him sometimes, starting at her when she was fighting so hard to stay in this world. She wondered if, perhaps, at the back of his mind, he knew.

She'd already asked Hope if he could save her, but he had no suggestions. Nor did her fellow Pulsians. She knew that she was doomed, but she tried to make her peace with it anyway.

This death felt somehow different from the others. Before, she'd died to protect her loved ones, died as she tried to make the world live as long as it could and her loved ones along with it. This time, though, she didn't know what she was dying for.

It came as a slow, creeping snake suddenly attacks its prey; desperately slow until a random moment is chosen and stolen without warning. She fell onto the mechanical earth, with a kind of her heart, and the Park was thrown into sharp relief as Noel's voice was muffled in her ears. The brittle leaves, and the cawing birds and the crisp sound of shoes on the dying leaves. She fell into them, and with one last half-smile that was full of anguish and bitterness and saddens, and a hand on his caring face, she closed her eyes and breathed her last.

It was contagious between all her selves, how she was always dying in the arms of a loved one.

* * *

 _Please review if you've got time and follow for more._ _Thanks!_


	4. 011 Coma

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy XIII-2_**

 _Well, I'm afraid we've come to an end here. Sad, but alas - I have exams. *Cries in five different languages* I'd just like to say thank you very much for joining me for this set and reading along with me._

 _For the last time: Enjoy!_

* * *

 _011\. Coma_

How do you move on after the world stops turning?

It was a question that spun around in Noel's head for months on end. How did the world around him keep on turning, when he'd been frozen solid? How did everyone else get out of bed every day and go about their business so cheerfully when the worst thing in the world had happened?

It seemed like he sat in the chair in the living room of the flat they'd rented together for months on end. Frozen solid to his seat, nothing outside of his vacuum of thoughts mattering at all.

People might talk to him, but he didn't hear it. He might do things, but he never felt it. It was like he was encased in a thick layer of rubber. Nothing ever actually touched him; the entire world seemed to bounce off that strange, protective shield.

He felt suffocated.

He may as well have been unconscious, kicked into a coma.

Then, one day, he felt something.

He swore, and yanked his hand away from the searing hot oven top. He looked at his finger, red and shiny and painfully torched, and stared. Stared at the flesh which he could actually feel. And he felt his hands twisted in their odd position, his spine aching from leaning down, his hair tickling his shoulder blades and stubble itchy on his face.

Like a fire spell cast on icicles, he felt himself slowly thawing out.

It was like the very spring that he and Yeul had had so much fun in.

He couldn't help but remember how she'd made a daisy chain so long that even wrapping it around her head three times there were some flowers left over. And how they'd witnessed a group of chicks hatching all together, smiling tenderly down at the fluffy little things.

He felt his face slowly stretch into a half-hearted grin. Then a smile. Then, he laughed. It made his face ache uncomfortably and his throat gave a screech of protest but he did it anyway. It was like his heart had been given an electric shock and the blood had started being pumped through his veins for the first time in months.

He felt alive. Like waking up after months of empty dreaming.

The pain in his finger throbbed. Swearing some more he ran to the tap and ran it under cold water. He caught sight of himself in the reflection of the metal tap.

This wasn't the Noel Yeul loved. This wasn't even Noel. And Yeul would've wanted the real Noel to stay living in this world. To experience all that she couldn't, to live a full life that she never got.

Feeling a chill down to the very bone of his finger, Noel promised himself something in that moment:

Every day would be a day lived to the fullest. He wasn't going to let Yeul down, not on this one. Not if he could ever help it.

* * *

 _A thought it'd be a nice note to end this horribly sad pairing on. I mean, sad in my head. Because I'm evil and enjoy pain etc., etc. You got me there!_

 _Please review if you've got time, follow for future updates, and favourite if you enjoyed reading. Thank you and goodbye for now!_


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